Home
by garfieldsieuquay232
Summary: What kind of samurai would be addicted to sweets, for God's sake? Dying from diabetes because of eating too much sweets? Well, he might be the first and the last samurai to die that way. A little Humor, Angst, Hurt/Comfort. Pairing: Kamui x OC. A little hint of OkiKagu.
1. Chapter 1

**Author:** **garfieldsieuquay232** aka **T.H.L**

**Disclaimer:** All characters, except for my very own character, **belong to Sorachi Hideaki.**

**Genres: a little Humour**, **Angst**,** Hurt/Comfort**

**Pairings: Kamui** x **OC**

A little hint of **OkiKagu**

**Warning:**

**1. A little OOC-ness**.

I will try my best to make sure all the characters in Gintama are in character, but since everyone has a limit, let's accept that there would be a little OOC-ness.

**2.** The story focuses on **family** and **friendship**, not love.

**3. My English is really bad**, **especially the grammar**. I will try my best to check it, but if you find some grammatical errors, let me know so I can fix them.

**4. Weird sentence structure.**

This fic was originally written in Vietnamese, not English, so many sentence structures may sound weird. I've tried to translate it best as I could, but sometimes I felt it would be better to keep the original structures than to replace them with English ones. So please forgive me if you find some structures weird.

Special thanks to my friend _**Bò Rock**_, _**Adriane Wright**_, _**dentedileone**_ and my beta reader _**kurasuchi**_.

Now, enjoy! And don't forget to leave a review, whether you like this story or not, just let me know.

* * *

[fanfic] Gintama

**Home**

_Home is the place where it feels right to walk around without shoes ..._

**Chapter 1: The girl in black**

The cloak of night fell on the land. The stinky smell of decaying bodies filled the air. There were corpses everywhere — of men and monsters, of intact corpses and scattered body parts. There were heaps of bodies: corpses that were still warm, sticky with blood; corpses that had long been cold and stiff. Then followed death — it was all around, within or beneath. It froze apparently on the faces of the corpses which were twisted in pain, in fear and in horror. It's right in their widely opened eyes.

Corpses were everywhere. So was death. It was a wasteland, a place that could curdle anyone's blood with just a glimpse.

Among the wreck stood a person, whose eyes were fastening on faraway horizon. That person wore a white shirt and a black gilet, with a blood-stained silver katana in hand. A stream of blood flowed from the wound on the right shoulder, dripping slowly through the shirt until it fell on the cold ground.

Sound of footsteps resounded right behind, which in the dead silence became quite frightening. There then came the voice of a man.

"If you don't treat this wound immediately, things can go bad."

The person in black turned to see a bald man in his forties with translucent skin, his features bearing the unmistakable marks of time. He wore Chinese clothes, with a chestnut scarf wrapped around his neck. In addition to his weird taste of fashion, he wore a pair of protecting glasses, and his right hand was holding a crimson umbrella.

"Long time no see, Iris," said the man.

"Mr. Umibouzu," the referent responded nonchalantly. "It has been a while since we last met."

"Well ... I've just come by and didn't expect to see you here."

He took a glance at which was once a battlefield.

"You brought them down all by yourself, didn't you?"

"No. Some people helped me to defeat them, but now they were all lying down there," she replied, her voice monotone when she answered the man, showing no emotions.

Iris took off the gilet, which had been dripping with blood. She then slipped her hand under her shirt, and took out a strip of cloth to wrap around her wounded shoulder. "Was it true that you had already finished all the monsters in Area K6A71?"

To Umibouzu, Iris wouldn't open her mouth unless it's necessary. It wasn't like her to start a normal conversation like that at all. You could say that she wasn't the type that would wear her heart on her sleeve. Instead of showing her feelings to others, she'd keep them all inside. So if somehow she might actually talk, or even started a conversation on her own, there would only be a reason: _she's in a bad mood_. Umibouzu had drawn that conclusion after some encounters with his young colleague.

Having seen others die right before one's eyes certainly wasn't something good for anyone, even if that was Iris, the one who often acted indifferently.

Seizing the rare chance (_that she actually opened her mouth once in a blue moon_), he replied:

"Um ... It took quite a lot of time to clear that area. Monsters now are everywhere. One is knocked down and others start showing up, so I can hardly have time to rest. But thanks to them, we space-sweepers never have to worry about unemployment."

"So that means you had left Kagura alone at home again?"

"No, she has been to Earth for a few years."

"Earth? You mean...?" she trailed off, as if it looked like that simple word had caught her attention.

"That's right. Actually she's in Edo — your hometown. Now she's staying at Kabuki, well, in a place called Yorozuya with a white-haired samurai named Sakata Gintoki and a glasses-wearing boy, whose name ... er ... Shin ... Shimura Shinpachi, if my memory serves me right."

Hands that were wrapping the wound stopped right after hearing that, and she gave him a strange look.

"Did you just mention _Sakata Gintoki_ and _Yorozuya_?"

"That's right. Do you know that guy, by any chance?" said Umibouzu, after seeing the other's weird reaction.

"Do I know him..." Iris looked away, and avoided making eye contact with him.

"Do I know him...?" she repeated that question in a mumble voice, as if she was talking to herself. "More than that... He's my elder brother."

Umibouzu couldn't believe his ears. He cleared his throat, unable to take grasp of the situation.

"He ... errr ... you ... your what?"

"He's my elder brother." This time, no more hesitation, claimed her as she took out the contact lenses and revealed her two ruby irises.

Umibouzu just stared at the girl right before him, frozen with shock. Iris' words had left him speechless.

She had never ever said a word about her family, let alone the fact that she had an elder brother. And even if she did, the thought that they're siblings would never cross his mind. Not even for one second. And yet they were siblings! For God's sake, like hell he would believe! But Iris claimed that herself...

Had it not been for her appearance (_it wasn't until then that he finally realized the similarity in appearance between them: silver hair and red eyes_), they would have nothing in common (_if he paid more attention he would have realized that not only did she have silver hair and red eyes but she bore striking resemblance to her elder brother as well. But since he's Umibouzu – not a very sensitive person, let's just forget about it_).

If Gintoki was the kind of happy-go-lucky guy who could live happily without ever knowing the meaning of the word "worry", did whatever he wanted or befriended whoever he liked, Iris, on the other hand, had always left an impression of "unfathomable" on people. She kept herself aloof from others. To some extent, that girl was very different from her elder brother.

If there was anything that might be called similar between the two of them, perhaps it was _audacity_. That's right. _Audacity_. _Boldness_. _Daring_. All these words were suitable to describe them. Willing to take risks or to do something different, not afraid to say whatever they feel — that's the kind of people they were.

Still, the fact that they were siblings was quite hard to accept.

_The world is really small… _

And the strongest space-sweeper let out a deep sigh at that thought.

"Not even in my wildest dreams would I've ever thought you two were relatives, not to mention siblings," Umibouzu said as he massaged his temples.

"You know my brother?" the girl raised her voice a little bit.

"What can I say about him ... Audacious, bold, nonconforming... That brat always causes trouble for others!"

As the other listened to those words, something appeared deep in her eyes, something that he couldn't quite catch.

"So that means... He got into trouble again?"

"Kamui, my arrogant son, he has set his eyes on your big brother," he said sternly, putting on a serious expression.

"What do you mean by_ set his eyes on your big brother_?" Iris narrowed her eyes as she repeated his words.

"It's just as what you're thinking of. It seems that my son had been interested in your brother. The cursed blood of the Yato Clan runs through his veins. All he knows is fighting. That damn brat not only wants to fight your brother; he wants to beat him to death, and won't stop till he reaches his goal," said Umibouzu as he silently gripped his umbrella.

A pregnant silence fell between them.

_The Yato Clan_ — the strongest and the most feared clan. Fighting ran in their blood, and they're always thirsty for blood. The cursed blood made them fight to death. Battlefield was the only place where they belong, for all they've ever wanted was fighting.

She had long known of that fact. How strong that cursed blood affected members of the clan, she had witnessed it herself. Not everyone could be like the man who was standing right before her. Most of them were aggressive, blood-thirsty and ruthless.

And her brother had been kept an eye on by one of them. And to make the situation even worse, _one of the strongest and most aggressive of them_.

"Captain of the 7th Division of Harusame's Thunder Guns?"

Iris was the first to break the silence.

"Huh?"

"Your son? Is he?"

"That's right, but..."

He's about to ask her what she was going to do, but was stopped by a mere glance of her.

Her tone was harsh, cold and icy; her red eyes tinged with darkness, deep in which he could barely catch the faintest ray of light. She clenched her fists tightly until her knuckles turned white. A dangerous aura emitted out of her.

What was on her mind then? He couldn't get a hold of it, 'cause she's different from the girl he had once known.

Suddenly he realized another similarity between the person standing right before him and that silver-haired samurai.

_You might think you had fully understand them, and one day out of the blue you realized that they weren't always as they might seem._

That thought crossed his mind as he looked into her very deep eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note:**

Today is Gintoki's birthday, so: **HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, GIN-SAN!**

And be aware of your blood sugar level, for God' sake! Dying from diabetes because of eating too much sweets? In no way would it be a good ending for a samurai, especially the main character of a shounen manga, right?

In order to prevent that tragedy from happening, keep yourself away from sweets, my dear Gin =))

And one more time, **HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, GIN-SAN! **

p/s:

I know that it has been a long time since I posted the first chapter, but I has been busy these days, and so has been my beta reader.

I couldn't wait for this chapter to be proofread by my beta reader _**kurasuchi**_, so I asked other friends to help me.

Special thanks to _**Bò Roch**_, _**Cassandra Nguyen**_, _**kurasuchi**_ and _**Missing Noon**_.

Special thanks to my readers who have been supporting me by their reviews and messages, who have been waiting for this chapter to finally be finished.

And if you find any mistakes in this chapter (_especially grammatical errors_), feel free to let me know so that I can fix it.

[fanfic] Gintama

**Home **

_Home is the place where it feels right to walk around without shoes... _

**Chapter 2: Return **

It was a normal day, just like any other days in Edo.

Otose Snack.

There were five people in the room, actually four people and a robot maid.

The one who was standing behind the bar counter was Otose, real name Terada Ayano, the owner of the bar and also one of the so-called Four Devas of Kabuki District.

She seemed to have a liking for spying on everything that happened in the town and untimely nosing into others' affairs (_both constructive and destructive interferences_).

Many allies but many enemies, too.

The three other people were members of Yorozuya, an outfit doing errands or odd jobs for fee, founded by Sakata Gintoki — _the white-haired guy whose head was on the coffee table at the moment_, did everything just for money but almost did nothing (_except destroying and trolling and causing troubles for others_).

They were no more than a stinky bunch of jobless people.

Well, that might be true. But if you put yourself into his place — _a samurai in the era where samurai could barely get a job of any kinds_ — you couldn't expect to have a better job.

Twenty years ago, the Amantos (_aliens_) from some strange worlds descended suddenly on Edo's sky, led the samurai down the road of decline. The swords got banned, and samurai lost their jobs.

You got the picture then.

_So the white-haired guy was a samurai_ — you might think.

Hey wait, don't be fooled by this euphonious and flowery word (_samurai_), that guy is a typical example of a good-for-nothing one who lived a parasitic life, sponged off social welfare and wasted all the tax money of people.

Take a look at him.

With silver natural perm hair which couldn't have been any curler or wavier and half-lidded red "dead fish eyes", a sleepy expression was on his face almost all the time. He wore a black shirt and pants with red linings, a white yukata with light blue patterns which was worn sloppily, draped over his left shoulder.

_Messy_ was all what could be referred to from his appearance.

About the character, there was only one word to describe that messy guy: "failure".

His personality is even worse than his appearance.

Lazy and unmotivated — even a pig was much more motivated than him (_comparing him with a pig was even considered insulting to the latter_).

He enjoyed picking his nose, talking nonsense or dirty things and reading Shounen Jump — such childish personalities at his age (_no wonder he claimed himself a child in a man's body_).

He's stinky cheap, he's stinky shady, and his feet stank. Whatever related to that samurai did stink.

More than that, or even worse than that, he's addicted to sweets.

Yep, that's right, sweets.

He was mostly seen eating or drinking something sweet, with strawberry milk being his favorite; and his love of sweets had developed to the point of nearly developing diabetes.

According to Gin — _let's call him "Gin" for short_ — he had to eat something sweet periodically or he would get cranky. His blood sugar level was so high that the doctor told him sooner of later he would die from diabetes.

What kind of samurai would be addicted to sweets, for God's sake?

Dying from diabetes because of eating too much sweets?

Well, he might be the first and the last samurai to die that way.

That's Gin-san.

With a master like that, no wonder Yorozuya had only three members (_including him_), and they're always deep in debt.

The boy who was cleaning the floor with the maid robot was the first employee of Yorozuya, Shimura Shinpachi.

Since the trio was always deep in debt, they had to do chores and other things to pay back part of their house rent.

About appearance, you could use the word "normal" to describe him.

Well, Shinpachi had nothing special, he's just as normal as other people. He had black hair and brown eyes, 166cm in height and about 55kg in weight — _a little thin compare with boys of his age_. He wore a light blue keikogi with blue linings and a blue hakama.

A plain boy who could freely mingle himself with the crowd.

Shimura Shinpachi, whose epithet was Megane (_glasses_) due to his most noticeable feature – _a pair of glasses_, never had even a girlfriend during his whole life, or to be frank, he's still a virgin (_the word "virgin" belonged to Gin. He used to trample upon the little boy's pride with his harsh but true words_).

Inherited a doujo from his father as well as the latter's debt; he and his elder sister Otae had to work hard to take care of it while made sure they paid off all their debt.

After a peculiar encounter with Gin, Shinpachi decided to be his apprentice and stayed at Gin's place to learn about chivalry, but somehow the thing he learned best from his employer was the ability to deal with odd situations and problems (_most of which was caused by Gin and his accomplices_).

The poor boy quite regreted following Gin because of his irresponsibility for everything, but it's too late.

One false move and there was no way back.

The most serious and also the least crazy of the trio, but when he went berserk... It'd better not to say that aloud.

So, to give a conclusion about this boy, he was so normal that somehow became abnormal (_everyone in this world was crazy about one thing or two and since he's normal, he became the least normal of all_).

That's the poitrait of Shimura Shinpachi, the straight man of Yorozuya.

The last person of the trio, the only rose among the thorns, was Kagura (_though it was a metephor, beautiful and feminime words such as "rose" didn't really suit her_).

She's still sleeping (_like a log_), lying on the long couch with her face downwards. It looked like the sleeping beauty was having a sweet dream — _the saliva on the cushions had proved it_.

The appearance could wait, gave the character a go first.

She was a lovely girl (_it's her own words, not mine_), member of the Yato Clan — _the strongest clan across the Universe_.

She came all the way from a faraway planet (_by stowing away on a ship_) to Earth, with hope to earn a living, but eventually became the third member of Yorozuya (_by threatening poor Gin-san and Shinpachi_) — which actually went against her purpose of going to Earth (_'cause Gin-the-miser would never pay her anything but sukonbu_).

She's often seen wearing Chinese clothes, with two salmon pink hair buns covered on either side of her head, hence being called "China" by he-who-must-not-be-named whenever she was around.

She woke up, then rose her head from the couch, with a sleepy expression on her face she rubbed her eyes. Her two azure eyes rolled around the room.

"It's already noon?". She looked at Shinpachi, asked innocently.

"Not yet", answered the referent as he continued sweeping the floor with a broom in hand.

He'd already known what she was thinking of. Nothing other than filling her seemed-to-be-endless stomach.

"Wake me up when it's lunchtime", gave the other no time to respond, she immediately fell back to her sleep.

That's Kagura-chan of Yorozuya, ate like a horse, slept like a log, the violent queen of Kabuki! (_claimed herself again_).

She's beautiful.

She's hard-working.

She's kind and understanding.

She's sensitive and tactful. She's ... She's ... (_adjectives of the same semantic field_).

She might be the dream of every man, or might be not, simply because she wasn't a girl. Though the word "girl" was in her name, there's also the word "robot".

Yep, she's robot girl-sama of Otose's Snack, Tama.

She was the old lady's right hand, did most of the cleaning and serving Otose's customers in the pub and even helped her to collect the house rent from a silver-haired samurai who was often in arrears (_by force, of course_).

Though there had been rumours about her shady past of having had some connection with the Robot Uprising, people who had known her found it kinda hard to relate that beautiful and kind robot with the criminal who had been wanted by the Shinsengumi.

The pub of the old lady itself had a notorious history of taking in criminals, so one more of them wouldn't give a damn effect on the peace of the Universe.

That's the end of the introduction of the characters. Back to the main story:

Otose, who was then standing right next to the coffee table with the familiar cigarette on her mouth, knitted her brows as her eyes took a glance at the headline of the morning newspaper.

She grumbled:

"This month the unemployment rate has risen again!".

"Life is getting harder and harder, old woman".

With his head was still on the table, Gin mumbled.

"Having a date with Ketsuno Ana is even easier than getting a job nowadays. Thinking too much on this problem would only deepen your wrinkles. Just take it easy, relax and — ".

"It's true that life is getting harder these days, but — ", the old woman cut him at his words, "if anyone were like you guys — _lying all day long and doing nothing at all_ — then it would be no surprise the unemployment rate has risen. And by the way, don't talk to women about wrinkles and eye bags, you insensitive moron!", said her as she raised her eyebrows a little bit.

He muttered under his breath:

"Not even a stand showed its face, how could we all not be idle? And you're no girl or woman but an old dame!".

(_since his fear of ghost had never faded away, he avoided saying the word "ghost" and replaced it with the word "stand"_)

Otose gave him a fierce glare at his last sentence.

"I told you before not to talk back to me!".

She rolled up the newspapers into a tube and used it to hit him at his head.

"If you want to have some money, you should go out and look for a more stable job rather than just sitting here and waiting for the job to come on its own".

"I've already had a job. Why do you have to say that over and over again?".

Gin, who then finally sat up straight, picked his nose as he murmured.

"That's because you haven't paid the house rent for almost 3 months! If you paid me the money I wouldn't have had to talk over and over about it".

"I told you people haven't hired us Yorozuya much these days!"

Gin began to get annoyed with the old granny.

"I don't give a damn care about it! I just want to get my house rent". The rolled-up newspapers somehow found its way to Gin's head again.

"You dwell on this topic too much, old dame! No customer means no money. We even have to cut down our expenses to make ends meet. If I had enough money I would have paid you so long ago". The white-haired guy slapped his hands on the table to express his feelings.

"Go get whatever temporary job you could find you bunch of lazy-arse!".

"Mind your own business you garrulous woman!". Gin retorted angrily.

"Every month this clichéd scene keeps repeating again and again — ".

Their fierce conversation was interrupted by Shinpachi's voice.

"Granny, we all know that there's no point in yelling at him to get even a single coin from his empty pocket".

"Hey Shinpachi, whose side are you on right now?". Gin yelled at the boy.

"Neither yours nor hers", answered Shinpachi nonchalantly as he adjusted his glasses by pushing them up.

"Then do not butt in when we are talking!", shouted Gin.

"I don't think you guys are talking but quarreling".

The boy narrowed his eyes when he muttered.

"And by the way, I think granny is right. Kagura and I haven't received a single coin for months. You should stop fooling about and get on with some works, or we would all end up starving for sure".

"Aren't we doing chores to pay back part of our debt?". The white-haired samurai pointed his index finger at him.

"We? No _we_ here. I'm the only one who is currently doing chores to pay back part of our debt while you two doing nothing at all but sleeping".

"I'm your employer, remember?".

"That doesn't mean you can get away with it. You should do the chores as well. Wait wait wait! We're going astray. Get back to the point".

Shinpachi massaged his temples.

"What I want you to do is to talk less and do more. Go get whatever job you could find".

"You're talking as if getting a job was just a piece of cake! If so, then why don't you go and get a part-time job yourself, in stead of standing here and blaming me?".

Gin gave the boy a look that said "I know we are the same", then continued to pick his noses.

His words managed to make the boy silent. What Gin said was true. Getting a job nowadays wasn't something easy, especially to a samurai, and while himself was no exception, Shinpachi drawn the conclusion that it's best to say nothing. After all, Gin had never lost any argument before, hadn't him?

So the boy returned to his chores, continued to clean the floor, left the lazy samurai behind with a arrogant expression on his face.

Suddenly the phone rang, and Tama, who was standing near by picked it up. A few seconds later, she passed the phone to Gin.

"Mr. Gin, someone wants to talk to you". She told him with a smile on her face.

Gin received the phone absentmindedly, but soon the indifferent expression on his face disappeared, and was replaced by a more serious one.

"Gin-san, what's happened?", Shinpachi asked curiously.

It wasn't like him to act that way.

But Gin did not answer his question.

"Damn it!". He cursed under his breath while rushed upstairs as fast as he could, leaving Shinpachi behind with his unanswered question.

"Who do you think has just called him, grannie?".

"Like I would care". Otose grunted as she finished her cigarette.

"He looks as if he's been chasing by some moneylenders. Now even if it's a phone call from the Tax Department I won't find it surprising at all. He had never paid a mere dime of tax for the government", sighed the glasses-wearing boy.

"May be. Everything can happen to that brat".

Otose lighted another cigarette while murmured.

"I wonder why didn't he use the money she'd left".

"Granny, pardon me?".

"No, it's nothing". She spoke in a low voice as if to herself, and looked away from the boy. "Nothing special".

_Everyone is acting weird_ — that's what Shinpachi thought after seeing the other's strange reaction. They seemed to hire something from him. Was is related to the phone call?

That thought crossed his mind and the young boy was lost in it until a terrible racket pulled him out of his thought.

It looked like the sound came from the upstairs — _their apartment_.

It must be Gin.

"What the heck is he doing...", Otose grumbled.

"Who knows...", the other shrugged his shoulders as he repeated the old lady's words. "Everything can happen to him, right?".

_About twenty minutes later... _

Another terrible racket.

"Hey, what the heck has you been doing for almost twenty minutes?", Otose yelled angrily. She had run out of patience.

Shinpachi, one again shrugged his shoulders indifferently. He was waiting for a loud yell from Gin as an answer. To his surprise, there's no such answer, but another sequence of sounds, which in fact was an awful din in reply to the bar owner's angry yell.

"Hey brat, whatever you're doing, stop it right now, or I will make sure you regret it later!".

"Don't you think that I should go upstairs and see if he needs a helping hand or not?", the boy suggested.

"You, go upstair immediately! I don't care how, but you have to do anything you can to stop that terry noises! Kick his ass out, if necessary".

"If only it was that easy — ", the poor boy mumbled under his breathe.

"I don't care. Go upstairs right now!".

"You haven't changed at all, grannie". Suddenly came a voice that cut off the furious dame's words.

Otose stopped yelling to looked at the door — _where the sound came from_. So did Shinpachi.

There, stood a girl in white flower pattern yukata. Silver hair and red eyes. Striking resemblances to Gintoki could easily be seen from her appearance. She stood there, with her head tilted just a little bit to the right, arms wrapped around her body and eyes were fixed on them (_Otose and Shinpachi_). A faint smile crossed her lips.

How long had she been standing there? They didn't know, since there's no footsteps had been heard of.

"You — ". Strange as it was, one of the Four Devas of Kaburi was perhaps for the first time lost at word.

[to be continued...]


End file.
